Faults:

At 72000 miles the airbag light began flashing on and off periodically. It happens more often during the winter when the heat is on. It is also compounded when I take a rough road, so I'd imagine that it is a bad connection, hopefully in the warning light panel, and not in the airbag system itself. I have not taken it to the dealership because I have reliable sources that have explained that it is not a danger.

At 75k miles the upper rubber hose that connect to the PCV valve literally blew in half during an aggressive downshift.

Driver's seat, left bottom bolster detached and sank very early on in the car's life (maybe 10k miles?)

Fuba antenna deteriorated badly around the 30k mile mark. This is a common problem for rust belt drivers.

Exhaust rusted through just before the muffler at around 73k miles, but was easily replaced with an aftermarket (cat back) system for around $200.

I can do much of my own work on the car, so I have not had to take it in to the local dealer to have them fix it. I have worked for dealerships in the past and can confidently say that they are in the business to take advantage of folks who do not have mechanical knowledge, and take their money. Find a mechanic that you can trust who specializes in the car that you own, and use that person for any service not covered under warranty.

Several very minor rust bubbles have started to appear. I didn't notice them until a close inspection of the paint after washing. These are mostly at the bottom of the doors, and under the hatch release button. They are typical of a car of this age, and easily fixed.

General Comments:

Over all, this 2.0 K2 Golf has been an excellent car. The extras (moon roof, heated seats-mirrors-washer nozzles) have continued to work perfectly for 7 years and 75k+ miles.

Oil consumption is very low for a car at this point in it's life, and except for the very few problems mentioned above, it's been a great buy.

Being informed about checking fluids, brakes, and tire wear has saved me thousands of dollars with this, and every other VW that I've owned.

Faults:

Speedometer/Odometer works sporadically.

Gas gauge works sporadically.

Bad fuel injector.

Erratic sensor lights.

Molding falling off.

Broken automatic door lock.

Broken head gasket cover.

General Comments:

Let me start by saying that I absolutely love the way my Golf drives and handles. It's fun and it has some kick to it. It's almost seven years old and it still drives well.

I bought the car when it was three years old. Most of the above problems were covered under a used car warranty and were fixed by the dealership at which I bought the car.

However, there are still a few outstanding annoyances which I cannot seem to get fixed, no matter where I take the car for service. The speedometer, odometer, and gas gauge continue to give me problems. They only work sporadically, literally working one minute and then not working the next minute. It's very frustrating. I will watch the gas gauge go from half full to empty to full within seconds. I never really know how much gas I have or how fast I'm going. Somehow, I've learned how to mentally gauge approximately how fast I'm going and have never gotten a ticket for speeding. I've become paranoid and obsessive about filling up my gas tank as often as possible and so have only run out of gas twice (totally embarrassing).

Every time I've taken my car in to be looked at for these problems, the gauges start working, and therefore the problem cannot be diagnosed.

The sensor lights (check engine/airbags/etc) are constantly going on and off. I've grown tired of taking my car in every time the "check engine" light comes on. They diagnose my car and tell me nothing is wrong. And sure enough, a couple of days later, the light will shut off.

I really wish someone could figure out the problem.

I don't even want to talk about the side molding that keeps falling off and I've re-glued about 100 times.

Other than these extremely annoying inconveniences, the car has been pretty reliable. I've spent money mostly on general maintenance (tires/brakes/battery).